As architects, we are expected to know more and more technologies. Not only this but also to be able to make decisions, provide recommendations and propose solutions to solve different architecture and design issues, improve existing applications….etc.
These expectations that come from your team and sometimes from yourself can create a lot of pressure and stress.
We can even feel disappointed when attending meetings with our colleagues and we hear them talking about a new framework, a platform, or a new architecture style and we have no clue what they are talking about.
This may create a feeling of frustration as you have the impression that your colleagues are better than you and you just can’t keep up with them. I don’t think that any architect or developer didn’t go through this feeling in his career.
But the difference is how to react in face of this “lack” of knowledge. Just acknowledge it. This doesn’t make you less competent than your colleagues. Make sure to take a note about these new things that you are not aware of. At the end of the day spend an hour or so to go through them at a very high level. Don’t try to ingest all the details at this stage. What is important, is to understand what they are used for. For example, is this new architecture used to improve the performance? Is the intent of this new platform to improve the overall testing?
If these new technologies are adopted by your company or are on the way to be, spend more time to build a better understanding. And keep in mind that absorbing and understanding this new knowledge is built incrementally and will not happen overnight.